Ministry of Ecology and Environment: 13 departments are studying and formulating action plans for the management of new pollutants

On March 30, 2022, Ren Yong, Director General of the Department of Solid Waste and Chemicals of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at a press conference in response to a question from Interface News that, in accordance with the decision of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and 13 other departments, is studying and formulating an action plan for the management of new pollutants.

Ren Yong revealed that the programme under development will set out the overall requirements, main objectives, action initiatives and safeguard measures for the control of new pollutants in China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

Previously, on March 5, Premier Li Keqiang said in his government work report to the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress that this year we should continue to improve the ecological environment, promote green and low-carbon development, and strengthen the governance of solid waste and new pollutants.

Ren Yong introduced at the press conference, from the perspective of improving ecological and environmental quality and environmental risk management, new pollutants are those toxic and harmful chemical substances with characteristics of biological toxicity, environmental persistence, bioaccumulation, etc. These toxic and harmful chemical substances pose greater risks to the ecological environment or human health, but have not yet been incorporated into environmental management or existing management measures are insufficient.

There are currently four major categories of new pollutants of widespread international concern: firstly, persistent organic pollutants; secondly, endocrine disruptors; thirdly, antibiotics; and fourthly, microplastics. These four categories are defined as new pollutants, provided that they are released into the environment.

Ren Yong said that the overall idea of new pollutant management can be summarized as: "screening, assessment, control" and "ban, reduce, cure", mainly through the screening and assessment of environmental risks of toxic and harmful chemical substances, "screening the main purpose is to screen and assess the environmental risks of toxic and hazardous chemical substances, "screen" and "assess" the new pollutants that need to be controlled, and then implement the whole process of controlling the key new pollutants, including the prohibition and restriction of production and use at source, process reduction and end-of-pipe treatment.

The term "new" can be understood in two ways: on the one hand, it is relative to familiar conventional pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and PM2.5; on the other hand, there is a wide range of new pollutants and, more importantly, their variety is likely to continue to increase.

"The number of new pollutants that may be identified will continue to increase as knowledge of the environmental and health hazards of chemical substances grows and as environmental monitoring technologies develop. You will note that the United Nations Environment Programme uses the term 'Emerging pollutants' for new pollutants, with 'Emerging' being a tense of progression, indicating that new pollutants are likely to continue to increase. " Ren Yong said.

Ren Yong said that in recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, together with relevant departments, has carried out four main areas of work in the environmental risk management of toxic and hazardous chemical substances, laying a better foundation for the management of new pollutants.